My cook-for-myself Thanksgiving

Yesterday I had the good fortune of spending a Western holiday absent from all things Western. Wait, I did the lying thing in my last post. Yesterday I had the bad fortune of spending a Western holiday absent from all things Western. It's not that I'm particularly attached to mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. I love good food in general, and have been missing it since I left home. So it's not about the food, or at least not more so than every other day here. My family and I have a love-tolerate relationship. But Thanksgivings are never on the tolerate side of the spectrum; they're far too delicious for that. Maybe I'm just romanticizing all of the past Thanksgivings, but I'm pretty sure that I even offered to help, and then did actually help, with preparations and clean ups for these events. (Not that I normally don't help, because I'm capable of being very helpful, but my utility on any given Thanksgiving is above reproach). I've been away from home at Thanksgiving before, but when I was in Hong Kong my uncle, sister, and cousin visited me and we had dinner at Fat Angelo's. Yesterday there was no family. I couldn't even bring myself to leave my apartment, so I stayed here and made myself rice noodles, fried up some tofu with a delicious soya sauce (which, strangely enough, had a picture of a fish on the label), and boiled some water so I could learn that this Milo stuff doesn't taste much like hot chocolate. In good news, it looks like I'll get to return home for Christmas. The bad part about this is that now I'll have to get gifts for all my relatives. Of course, they wouldn't be too disappointed if I didn't bring back gifts, because most years this is the case, and if I was to ask them what they want they'd only say, "Oh JB/Jumbs/Mr. Sun, you don't need to worry about gifts for us; your presence here is a gift enough." Well my little brother would probably ask for a VidiPod, and my sister would probably ask me to talk to Mom and Dad again and convince them that she needs my car (and it's manual transmission that she can't drive but that she thinks she can learn in 3 or 4 hours) back at college. And my cousins (yes, mostly you Peter) would just tell me not to bother, because they can't be bothered to find something for me. Still, gifts always beats no gifts, so long as it's really a gift and not a revenge or a manipulation. Now it probably sounds now like I'm just complaining. I probably am. Am I trying to appear pathetic? Maybe, but not consciously. Really, I'm quite happy, for reasons I haven't discussed here. My posts are often, in the names of reticence and entertainment, incomplete and slightly skewed versions of my self-perceived reality. So enjoy the good stories, hyperboles, and fibs. Believe what you want, and laugh at the rest. Congrats Lisa and Carl. I'm very sorry that I am not able to attend the ceremonies and celebrations, but please know that I wish you the best as your lives and loves continue to grow together.